NEW DELHI ESTH OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF July 23 -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 003467 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS STATE FOR STAS STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER, HICKEY AND VALDEZ NIH FOR GLASS AND MAMPILLY FDA FOR LUMPKIN AND WELSCH CDC FOR BLOUNT AND FARRELL USFWS FOR NAGENDRAN AND BAGLEY DEPT OF INTERIOR PLEASE PASS THIS TO FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV TSPL TBIO ECON SOCI KSCA IN SUBJECT: NEW DELHI ESTH OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF July 23 - 27, 2007 REF A: NEW DELHI 3411 REF B: STATE 103509 NEW DELHI 00003467 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Summary: This week the ESTH office visited the Agra Bear Rescue Facility; hosted world-renowned climate scientist Dr. Jagadish Shukla; convened the Avian Influenza Working Group in response to the H5N1 outbreak in Manipur; attended the Rotavirus Vaccine Project Committee meeting in Hyderabad; and noted India's plans to launch a new military satellite and an Israeli reconnaissance satellite on the same launch vehicle. End Summary. -------------- ENVIRONMENT -------------- ¶2. (U) Scioffs visited the Agra Bear Rescue Facility run by Wildlife S.O.S., a NGO that specializes in the rescue and rehabilitation of the endangered Indian sloth bear which for centuries have been exploited as "dancing bears" by the Qalandar tribal community. Wildlife S.O.S. has eliminated dancing bears along the Delhi - Agra highway and is well on the way to solving the problem throughout India. They are set to expand their current Agra facility by 145 acres in 2009 which will provide enough space to house all of India's mistreated sloth bears. Wildlife S.O.S. employs a holistic approach which includes the rehabilitation of the Qalandar tribal community and is a model for successful and sustainable wildlife conservation. Further information is available on their website: www.wildlifesos.com. ¶3. (U) The ESTH Office hosted Dr. Jagadish Shukla, Professor and Chair of the Climate Dynamics Program at George Mason University and President of the Institute of Global Environment and Society. Dr. Shukla is also the recipient of the 52nd International Meteorological Organization Prize awarded in 2007 by the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization. He informed us he has been tapped by S&T Minister Kapil Sibal to chair the International Advisory Panel on Weather Forecasting and Climate Change. Membership on the Panel will include representatives of NOAA and academia in the U.S. and U.K. as well as IIT Delhi, the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore, and the Indian Meteorological Department. The panel will address concerns regarding the state of climate change science in India which has long been hampered by lack of adequate raw data as well as the GOI's unwillingness to share existing data with the scientific community. -------------- SCIENCE -------------- ¶4. (U) In a conversation with Dr. Harold McFarlane, President, American Nuclear Society (ANS),SciCouns learned that following the successful session at the ANS Annual Meeting in Boston in June, 2007 on 'US-India Nuclear Cooperation' which was attended by BARC Director Dr. Banerjee and Mr. Raghuraman of USIBC/CII, interactions between nuclear engineers and scientists from both countries will continue at the upcoming "Global 2007- Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles and Systems" in Boise, Idaho, in September 2007. Dr. Ravi Grover from DAE has informed ANS that a small group from BARC and the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam are planning to attend. -------------- TECHNOLOGY -------------- ¶5. (U) The Hindu (www.hindu.com) reports India is planning to NEW DELHI 00003467 002.2 OF 002 launch a dedicated military reconnaissance satellite, the CARTOSAT-2A, in mid-September or early October, 2007. The satellite is set to be launched together with an Israeli reconnaissance satellite on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). This will mark the third launch of a foreign satellite by the Indian Space Research Organization. -------------- HEALTH -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Confirmation of H5N1 Avian Influenza in poultry in Manipur, India. On July 25, 2007, India officially announced the outbreak of H5N1 Avian Influenza in poultry in Manipur. The HHS Office convened the Mission's Avian Influenza Working Group on July 26 and FAS reported on the outbreak in Ref A. ¶7. (SBU) In response to Ref B, the HHS Office has sent a demarche and non-paper to senior officials in the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Health Attach will follow up with meetings with key MOH officials. ¶8. (U) SciFSN attended a meeting of the Rotavirus Vaccine Development Project in Hyderabad July 27 and 28. The meeting was attended by representatives from Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL),the Society for Applied Studies (SAS),the Department of Biotechnology, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, NIH/NIAD, Stanford University, and the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. SAS reported they had completed the first dose level of the Phase 1b/IIa study and is expecting an approval to evaluate the next dose level. BBIL presented the results of formulation experiments and is confident they can develop a liquid vaccine formulation with a shelf-life of 24 months at a storage temperature between 2 - 8 degrees C. BBIL is also designing a new manufacturing facility per WHO guidelines capable of producing at least 30 million doses per year. The new facility is expected to be completed by November, 2007. WHITE